


The sun is gone but I still have a light

by PretzelRods



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Dual Survivor AU, Dubious Morality, Explicit Language, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nuka world dlc, Open Relationships, Other, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Strong Female Characters, Survivor Guilt, Time Skips, both husband and wife survive and they're ready to kick ass
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-07 11:14:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15907149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PretzelRods/pseuds/PretzelRods
Summary: “We need a lot things!” Alice regretted it as soon she yelled, but it was just all too much. Shaun being kidnapped, Ian being shot, the fucking world being lit up with nuclear fire! Everything she’d ever known, gone in an instant.Concern bloomed across Ian’s face. “Hey,” he touched the hand on his wound. “It’s going to be okay.”A story about two people, who care and love each other very much, take over the world, and how they extend their love to someone who very much needs it.Hiatus until further notice





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I've had in my head for a while so I decided to finally sit down to write it :) I don't know if anyone will ever actually read this but enjoyed writing it! I'm already working on the other chapters so I hope I dont take too long to post them! Sorry the first chapter is so short, enjoy :)
> 
> Also I'm sorry the summary is so bad I tried I swear

Alice woke up shivering and coughing as the calm, monotone voice overhead informed her, “Critical failure in cryogenic array. All vault residents must vacate immediately.”  
  
When the pod door fully opened she fell onto the floor, coughing and trying to catch her breath. She pushed herself to her feet, and ran over to his pod. All she remembered was that man threatening and shooting Ian. Tears threatened to fall down her face as she muttered to herself, “Come on, there has to be a release...” When she found it, she quickly pulled on it and backed up.    
  
When the door fully opened Alice was treated with Ian coughing up his lungs and red spreading over his front. He moaned in pain and fell forward. She caught him, lowering him  carefully down onto the floor.  
  
Unzipping his suit, she looked over the wound with inexperienced eyes. Blood oozed out at alarming rate. “Ian, what should I do?”  
  
“We need to put pressure on it,” he gasped through the pain and grit his teeth. “Stop the bleeding.”  
  
She looked around for any type of cloth but found none. Thinking quickly, she unzipped her suit part way and ripped the right arm off at the seam. She folded it up and pressed down down on the wound.  
  
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. “Ugh, we need to move. We need to get some actual medical supplies and remove the bullet.”  
  
“We need a lot things!” Alice regretted it as soon she yelled, but it was just all too much. Shaun being kidnapped, Ian being shot, the fucking world being lit up with nuclear fire! Everything she’d ever known, gone in an instant. She could handle a lot of things, but this was just too much.  
  
Concern bloomed across Ian’s face when his wife, his strong wife, clenched her eyes shut and breathed deeply. “Hey,” he touched the hand on his wound. “It’s going to be okay.”  
  
The fact that _he_ was comforting _her_ snapped her out of her funk. “Fuck, I’m sorry,” she shook herself off. She contemplated his wound for a second before unzipping his suit part way to put the fabric directly on his wound. Then she zipped up his suit to keep up the pressure. She zipped up her own suit and helped him sit up. “You ready?” When he nodded she wrapped one arm around him and grabbed his hand in the other. With effort, Alice was able to get him standing. Once he was standing, they were able to hobble out of the room and down the hall.  
  
When they saw the first giant roach, Ian almost laughed. It was all so surreal. First the world ending, being shot by a random man, Shaun being taken, and now, cockroaches the size of _cats_? Ian wanted to wake up from this nightmare.  
  
Luckily, Alice was able to stomp the thing to death. She shivered in disgust as she tried to scrape off the bits that stuck to her boots. They explored the dining hall but found nothing but empty beer bottles and a ransacked barracks. They were able to get through the generator room in one piece, stomping any of the roaches that got in their way. They felt relieved when they found three stimpacks in the overseers office.  
  
Alice gently set Ian on the overseer’s bed and went through the medicine cabinet in the bathroom in search of anything of use. She was rewarded with a pair of tweezers. She kneeled next to Ian on the ground. He sighed and gently unzipped his suit.  
  
The piece of vault suit that had been on his wound was soaked through and he groaned when he took it off. “I’m fairly sure that the bullet didn’t go too deep and it stayed in one piece, so this shouldn’t be too hard.”  
  
“Alright,” only her voice betrayed how nervous she was. Alice forced her hands steady as she held the tweezers in her hands. Ian laid back and grabbed onto the sheets of the bed. She tried to be gentle, but judging by his face and how tightly he was holding the sheets, she wasn’t doing that good of a job. Luckily, she was able to get it done fairly fast.  
  
He let out a long groan of pain and his hands shook as they released the bed. “Stimpack,” his voice shook. Alice obliged and pain was at least a little bit more bearable. “Now, we need to cover it.”  
  
Alice checked the medicine cabinet for some bandages, but no dice. She settled for ripping off part of the ratty lab coat the bones in the office were wearing, trying not to think about who the skeleton could be. She wrapped up the wound tight and hoped for the best. “What should we do now?”  
  
Ian sighed. “Well, I really shouldn’t be moving, maybe we rest up here for a day or two.”  
  
Alice agreed squaring her shoulders and standing up. “I’m going to go check for some food in the dining hall.”  
  
When Alice came back she only had two beer bottles full of water. She explained that there wasn’t any food but there was still water coming from the sink and it looked like it was safe so she put some in some bottles. Ian was hesitant to test the vault water purifier’s durability but he was too thirsty to argue.  
  
They sat drinking in silence. Both knew they were ignoring the elephant in the room, but neither had the energy to start that conversation.  
  
“We should try to get some sleep,” Ian suggested and Alice simply nodded her head and laid down next to him. She tried to make as much room as she could so he didn’t jostle his wound, which Ian appreciated. “I love you,” he took her hand and squeezed it.  
  
She looked at him and gave a small smile. “I love you too.

 

 

Alice smiled as Ian walked into kitchen yawning. “Morning sleepyhead.”   
  
“Mornin’,” Ian gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek and heavily sat at the table. “Eggs almost finished, Codsworth?”   
  
“It’ll only be a minute, sir,” Codsworth chirped.    
  
Alice gave Ian a cup of coffee while sipping her own. “I’ll probably just get some food on the way to gym, I woke up late today,” Alice said, downing the rest of her coffee and putting the cup in the sink.    
  
“Yeah, like seven a.m. is late,” Ian chuckled. “It’s a Saturday, don’t you ever feel like sleeping in?”   
  
“Waking up early is too ingrained in me after living on a farm for most of my life,” Alice pointed out. “I always feel lazy when I sleep in, like mamá is about to come and yell at me for not feeding the chickens.”   
  
Both Ian and Alice shared a good laugh from that, but were interrupted by a wailing cry from Shaun’s room.    
  
“I’ll get it hun, you finish getting ready for the gym,” Ian said, squeezing her shoulder as he passed.    
  
Alice grabbed a pear from their little fruit bowl before heading to their bedroom. Alice stopped as she heard crying from Shaun’s room, and it wasn’t a baby’s crying.    
  
She opened the door to see Ian bleeding and sobbing on the floor. “Ian! Ian, what happened?” She was at his side instantly.    
  
“Why did you do this, Alice?”   
  
“What?” Alice noticed that Shaun was nowhere in sight.    
  
“Why? Why did you let them take him? Why didn’t you protect us?”   
  
Suddenly they weren’t in their home anymore, they were in the ruins of what was left of their home after the nuclear bomb claimed everything.    
  
“Why, Alice? Why did you let this happen?” Ian was shaking her now, violently. “Why, Alice? WHY?”   
  
Alice felt like she was drowning and there was no way to come up for air. Tears streamed down her face and she was light headed from how fast she was breathing. All she could feel was Ian shaking her and yelling her name.    
  
She was brought out of her nightmare by Ian shouting her name so loud her ears hurt. She eyes ripped open but could barely see anything through her tears.    
  
Ian, seeing that she was finally awake, gently held her and stroked her hair. “It’s alright, it was just a dream. You’re okay, you’re safe.”   
  
Alice seemed to finally understand and clung to the front of his jumpsuit and sobbing into his chest. When she was finally done with crying she let go of Ian and sat up on the bed, wiping snot and tears from her face.    
  
“Do you want to talk about it?” Ian offered.    
  
“No,” Alice said, her voice shaky. “I’m... I’m just going to have a look around this place.”   
  
He was clearly still worried but let it go, knowing that she wasn’t going to say anything more. She got up and walked out of the overseer’s quarters. On the desk, there was a pistol and some ammo which she didn’t think would hurt to carry. To the right she saw a weapons locker where she found another pistol and more ammo. There was also a rather interesting and unique looking gun behind a glass case. However, it was locked and she had no idea where a key might be.    
  
She tried the other door in the room but it appeared to be locked. She thought about it for a second before trying the terminal on the overseers desk. The first file caught her attention. It was labeled, ‘VAULT 111 OVERSEER INSTRUCTIONS’. She clicked on it and became more and more horrified and she read on. Cryogenic freezing? For the first time she really looked at the skeleton. How long had it been? How many years had she been trapped in that godforsaken pod? Five? Ten?  _ Fifty? _ She sat down hard on the floor, feeling her already puffy eyes fill with even more tears.   
  
Vault-tec had planned all of this. They thought it was alright to play with people’s lives like that. To play with her husband’s life, her  _ baby’s _ life. She felt herself start to shake with rage instead of sadness. She was so angry, but all the people she was angry at were dead. The vault-tec scientists that played with her family’s lives were long dead. Vault-tec and it’s creators were probably blown up and long gone by now. She could only sit there and seethe.     
  
“Hun?” She was startled out of her reverie by Ian’s voice. He appeared above her, looking down at her worriedly. He was barely standing though, and was propping himself up with the desk.    
  
She immediately grabbed the desk chair, shoving the remains out of the way, and sat Ian on it. “You should be resting,” she scowled at him. “You’re going to open your wound back up.”   
  
“I couldn’t fall back asleep,” he inspected her face. “What’s wrong?”   
  
She took a deep breath. “They froze us, Ian. They threw our lives away just to study the ‘long-term effects of suspended animation on unaware, human subjects.’ They treated us like fucking test subjects!” She was nearly foaming at the mouth.    
  
Ian tried to process all of the things she was telling him. “They... froze us?”   
  
“Yes! They cryogenically froze us!”   
  
Ian paled. “For how long?”   
  
“I don’t know, and none of the bastards are alive to even tell us.” Alice clenched her fists.    
  
Ian let out a long breath. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about that now except accept it and move forward.”   
  
Alice wanted to argue, but there was nothing to argue against, so she bottled up her anger and focused on the problem at hand. “Well that door,” she pointed to the only closed door in the room. “is locked. So I thought this terminal might be the way to open it.”    
  
Ian asked if she’d checked it.    
  
“No, I was just about to,” she kneeled in front of the terminal, with Ian looking over her shoulder. She found a file that said ‘Open Evacuation Tunnel’. “I’m guessing this’ll work,” she clicked enter and luckily it was the right thing to press. The door opened with a  _ hiss _ . She stood up and glanced back at Ian. “I found two guns while looking around,” she held out a gun and a box of ammo to him. He shook out the majority of the ammo and put them into the pockets of his suit and she did the same with another ammo box. She helped him up and wrapped her left arm around his back while he put his arm over her shoulders. They held their guns in their open hands.   
  
They hobbled their way out the door and were greeted with a group of the giant roaches. Ian groaned and Alice simply pulled up her gun. The first few they were able to kill before the rest of the bugs could react, but Alice had to squash one when it got to close. When it was over, Alice chuckled, “At least they’re easy to kill.”    
  
Ian was too skeeved out to reply. They made their way to the vault door, killing a few roaches on their way and found the controls to open the door and the pip-boy.    
  
Alice leaned Ian on a nearby railing and picked up the pip-boy. “Should I put it on?” she questioned. Ian simply shrugged so she decided to strap it on. It slowly booted up and Alice used her jumpsuit to wipe down the dusty screen. Alice looked at her pip-boy and the control panel and back. She removed the plug in the back of her pip-boy and plugged it into the panel and hit the big red button. The vault door came whining open to her relief. She unplugged her pip-boy and let Ian lean on her again. They stumbled out of the vault and onto the elevator.    
  
When they reached the surface Alice had to prop Ian up as his legs gave out. They both stared in horror at the wasteland that greeted them. The trees were bare dead husks and the houses and buildings in rubble. Everything was... dead. The once lush and full trees that populated the woods outside of Sanctuary were now dead and leave-less.    
  
“My god... this is all that’s left?” Ian’s voice shook.    
  
“Where do we go?” Alice looked lost and sad as she regarded the barren wasteland.    
  
Ian looked at their home, or what  _ used _ to be their home. Some of the houses in Sanctuary were completely collapsed and their home looked on the brink of it. Ian thought about seeing their once proud home in such disrepair. “Anywhere but here.”   
  
With that, Alice guided Ian to a path that led south, hoping to find something or someone to help them.    



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice and Ian discover more about the new world and who they have to become to be able to survive.

Alice sat at the table in the middle of the ramshackle home. Wind came through the holes in the walls and made the candle light flicker.  
  
“Here you go,” Connie Abernathy said, putting two bowls of what passed for vegetable soup these days down on the table. “How are you holding up?”  
  
Alice glanced at Ian next to her. He looked and felt significantly better, the stimpack doing its job. The bleeding had stopped and the bullet hole was halfway to being healed.  
  
“Better now that I can get some food in my stomach, thank you,” Ian gave her a smile and the woman seemed satisfied with his answer. The family was nice enough to take pity on the travelers and offered them some food and a place to sleep for the night. While they were nice and Ian was still healing, Alice wanted to leave as soon as day broke. Blake Abernathy had told them a group of thugs they called “raiders” had been harassing them. Alice wanted nothing to do with any of that.  
  
Blake had talked about paying them to deal with the raiders, but Alice had declined. However, this did tell Alice about how the world worked nowadays. The world was not regulated in anyway, and people didn’t care much about morality. She thought that if Ian and her adjusted to the new philosophy, they’d be just fine. It wouldn’t be hard, she thought, what was the point in looking out for a stranger nowadays if they might shoot you in the back later for a can of beans?

Later that evening, Alice voiced her thoughts to Ian as they laid down on the mattress that the family had let them use. It was far away from where everyone else was sleeping so they basically in private.  
  
“We can’t stay here long, we only have pistols and these people are weak. If those raiders come here while we’re here, we could be in trouble.”

“You don’t think we could take on these “raiders” ourselves?” He gave her a playfully disappointed look. “I think you just don’t have faith in us.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Even if we could, it would take too many resources, and you’re still healing.”

Ian gave a chuckle before turning serious. “I agree, we don’t know how heavily these guys are armed or how aggressive they are. We should try to find some sort of town or settlement where we can find more out about the commonwealth.” As Alice looked more and more troubled as he talked, so he kissed her forehead, smiling at her and intertwining their fingers. “But let’s worry about that after a nights rest.”  
  
“Love you, Ian,” Alice smiled back at him.  
  
“Love you too.”

 

When Alice and Ian saw Diamond City, they were rather amazed. Seeing the houses that had been built from scrap was kind of amazing. It obviously nothing compared to the baseball field that had been there previously, but even Ian found himself impressed. Once they had finally got that annoying reporter off their backs, they wandered around the market. They had no money and nothing to sell, but they could learn things.  
  
“Hey man, got a lot of chems here if you need something to help you relax,” a man with dilated pupils called out to them.  
  
“Chems?” Ian questioned.  
  
Alice observed the man in front of them and muttered, “Drugs most likely.”  
  
“Well, yeah. You interested?” The man pressed.  
  
“Actually we were wondering if you have any work available,” Ian gave the man a business like smile.  
  
“Hmm... well there is one thing. If ya can find this one kinda plant, I use it in a lot of my recipes.” The man showed them a leaf of the plant and Alice and Ian tried to memorize what it looked like. “I’ll give you ten caps a leaf.”  
  
“Now, now, Solomon was it?” Once the man nodded Ian continued. “You did say you used this plant in a lot of your recipes. Wouldn’t you say twenty-five caps would be more appropriate?” Ian put on his sweetest and most convincing smile. Ian had no idea if it actually was, or what “caps” exactly were, but they needed the money.  
  
“Uh, yeah I guess that’s fine.”  
  
“Great, I’ll have those leaves to you in no time,” Ian gave the man a dazzling smile.  
  
  
  
Alice laid back against the bedrest examining a bottlecap. “It’s kinda interesting how people choose bottlecaps to be their new currency isn’t it?”  
  
“Yeah, kinda the last thing I would think people would choose,” Ian chuckled as he undressed.  
  
They had gone around the market collecting various jobs and selling things they had just “happened” to find lying around. Chems sold for a decent amount, they had found, some selling for up to 30 caps. After all that they had made it to the “Dugout Inn”, where Ian had sweet talked the bartender, Vadim, and had gotten them free drinks and reduced price on food.  
  
Ian and Alice spent a little time at the bar talking with Vadim and other patrons, they might’ve taken a few things that weren’t rightly theirs, but who actually knows if they did?  
  
“We came out to about 500 caps, not bad I think,” Alice said putting caps into a little bag that she had bought for them.  
  
“We should buy some supplies and head out in the morning,” Ian replied. “and I think we should also buy some new clothes. We were getting a lot of glances in the market."  
  
Alice hummed in agreement and laid down on the thin mattress. “You know… this is the first real bed we’ve gotten since before the vault,” she raised her eyebrows suggestively. “We should make good use of it.”  
  
"I like where this is going,” he grinned at her and walked slowly to the bed, taking his time.

“Shut up and stop making me wait,” she tried to sound scolding, but the grin forced itself on her face.

 

When the door opened, Ian looked up from the comic book he was reading. “Hey,” he smiled at the tired looking Alice. “How’d it go?”

“Standard,” Alice shrugged. “They were dumb as bricks and it was easy to pick them off.” She had just gotten back from taking out some raiders they were holed up on a boat that was connected to bridge. Them controlling that bridge made it hard for merchants to get to diamond city without going the long way around.   
  
The merchants offered a decent amount of caps to take care of them. Usually Ian would come with Alice, but he had been stabbed on their last job and was still recovering. The knife had been relatively clean but it had gone deep and Doctor Sun had recommended a few days rest. Alice had stayed with him the first day, but Ian, seeing how restless she was, all but forced her to go out and take a job. She was thankful for that.   
  
“One of the bastards had a suit of power armor. It was obviously handmade but I was able pull some of the pieces off him. Maybe it’ll be worth something,” Alice said pulling out said pieces out of her large pack. Alice put the metal down and sat down on the bed next to him. “How are you feeling?”   
  
“Pretty good, a little sore but good,” he smiled at her.   
  
“Good, because I think Yefim feels a little weird renting out a room for this long,” Alice chuckled. “We should head out to Goodneighbor. We still have to collect for clearing out the library.”   
  
Ian hummed. “I agree, when should we head out?”   
  
“I was thinking right now, I don’t see much point in waiting.”   
  
“Are you sure you don’t want to get some sleep first?” Ian gave her a concerned look.   
  
“No, it’s not that late and I’m not that tired,” Alice dismissed his concern. “I just want to sell the stuff I got for this job first.”   
  
“Alright,” Ian sighed. “Let me just pack my stuff.”   
  
  
  
It was taking longer than usual to get to goodneighbor and it was past midnight. Alice and Ian creeped along the streets, trying to avoid attracting at attention, specifically from the super mutants nearby.   
  
Ian had been aware of something stalking them in the dark, and he was fairly sure it was human considering if it was an animal it would’ve already attacked. He had tried to subtly tell Alice about this, but it was hard to get her attention in the dark.   
  
What he wasn’t expecting was to be struck hard in the head, fast and sudden. He crumbled to the ground. Alice pulled out her pistol but stopped when she saw the shotgun pointed at her face.   
  
“Now, now, sweetie. There’ll be none of that. We won’t hurt your little boyfriend anymore if you come with us nice and easy,” a woman came out of the shadows with two other people at her side.   
  
Alice looked at her options and decided to grit her teeth and drop her pistol.   
  
“That’s more like it. Drop your pack also,” one of the other people, a skinny man with greedy eyes said.   
  
When Alice hesitated, she felt the cool metal of a gun being shoved against her cheek and she dropped her pack.   
  
“Grab his pack too,” the woman instructed the other person with her. When Alice moved to stop them, the woman got in her face shoving the gun harder against her face. “Was I not clear?”   
  
Alice glared at the woman but stepped out of the way.   
  
Once the both of the packs had been collected and Alice’s discarded gun had been collected, the woman began, “Now you’ll be coming with us. Our boss has some business with you.”   
  
“Where are you taking me?” Alice was sure she was pushing her luck.   
  
The woman smiled cruelly at her. “The combat zone.”   
  
Alice’s fear must’ve gotten through because the woman chuckled. The combat zone was infamous for being a raider hangout, it was a little more civilized than other raider posts. Mercenaries could go there for jobs if they were brave or desperate enough, but they still strung up bodies outside of the entrance, so it wasn’t that different.   
  
Alice could only glance worriedly at the barely conscious Ian before she was being shoved forward with a gun at her back.   
  
  
  
When Ian stumbled his way into goodneighbor, the sun was starting to come up. He was out for so long that it was pure luck that some feral dog hadn’t tried to eat him. Daisy was just starting to set up shop and Ian stumbled over to her.   
  
She looked slightly alarmed at him, “Are you okay, Ian? Where’s Alice?”   
  
Daisy, Ian and Alice had built up a friendly relationship in the times they’d visited Goodneighbor. Daisy instantly liked them because they just treated her like a normal human, which travelers like them didn’t do often. Ian would playfully flirt with Daisy which would make the old ghoul blush and Alice chuckle. She had came to care for the young couple.

“It’s a long story, do you have that money for the Boston Library job? It’s cleared.”   
  
“Oh, yes,” she handed over the caps but still looked concerned. “Is there anything else I can do?”   
  
Ian thought a moment before asking, “Do you have a med-x?”   
  
  
  
Ian went straight over to Hotel Rexford, and with a little persuading and a few caps, Clair told him MacCready’s room number. Ian wasted no time going to MacCready’s room, and knocking loudly.   
  
A barely awake MacCready opened the door. “Huh? What do you want?”   
  
“I’m here hire you for a job.”   
  
“It’s fuc-fricking six in the morning. Come talk to me again at a responsible time.”   
  
“Wait!” Ian shoved his foot in the door to stop it from closing. “I’ll pay you 300 caps.”   
  
That instantly caught MacCready’s attention and tried not to seem too eager as he agreed. “What’s the job?”   
  
“Alice was taken by some raiders, they took her to the combat zone.”   
  
“Oh, wow. That’s a big job, you sure you can’t, I dunno, sweeten the deal?” MacCready said slyly.   
  
Ian sighed. “You can get a third of the loot.”   
  
“Half!”   
  
“A third.”   
  
“Alright,” MacCready agreed. “You’ve got a deal. We going in guns a’blazing or what?”   
  
“No, we’ll be sneaky,” Ian gave a sick smile. “They’re not going to see us coming.”   
  
  
  
MacCready and Ian took a minute to watch the Combat Zone’s guards, trying to figure out how observant they were and how smart. They quickly found out they were about as smart as any normal raider and they created a plan.   
  
Ian snuck up on them, taking them out with a knife to their head or gut. The knife was the only the kidnappers hadn’t taken from him, he had hid it in his boot. When the guards caught onto what was happening, MacCready covered Ian as he grabbed one of their guns and got into cover. MacCready pulled their attention away from Ian, so that Ian could shoot them while they were distracted. After, Ian dropped the gun with a look of disgust. These raiders kept their weapons in such disrepair he was surprised it hadn’t blown up in face.   
  
“We need find Alice as soon as possible, I don’t want to think about what they are planning on doing with her,” Ian looked deadly in his cold anger and MacCready just silently nodded his head.   
  
They tried to be as quiet as possible while opening the front doors, but found that it was not needed. There were no guards inside the first set of doors and it was very loud inside the second set of doors. Ian wondered if the other raiders had even heard the gunshots from outside.   
  
When they opened the second set of doors the saw that everyone was loudly cheering on a fight that was happening on the stage. The raiders was so distracted with the fight that they didn’t notice, one by one, raiders were dropping. Ian and MacCready snuck around the edges of the building, not wanting to bring the wrath of at least fifty raiders down on them.   
  
When they got to the top floor, still unnoticed, they came across a man, alone, smoking a cigarette and watching the show. In the corner of the room he saw Alice, tied up and with a gag in her mouth. Her armor was gone and there was blood almost entirely covering the right side of her face from a long cut on her forehead. She saw him and gave him a look so relieved, that his heart almost broke.   
  
He put his finger to his lips and slowly came behind the guy, gripping the knife in his hand. As quick as he could, he grabbed he man and slit his throat.   
  
The man gurgled and looked around in confusion. The cigarette falling from his hands and burning the rug underfoot. He collapsed to the ground with blood spurting from his wound, while Ian watched with satisfaction. Ian turned to Alice, undoing her bonds and asking in a hushed voice if she was okay.   
  
“I’m alright, I’m alright. The bleeding stopped a while ago, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a scar, though,” she gave the corpse a cold look. “I just wish I got some time with him before he died.”   
  
“Do you wanna take out the rest of them?” He gave her a wicked smirk.   
  
“No, I don't think most of them even knew I was here, most probably just came to get drunk and watch the show. Let’s leave, so in the morning they get to see all their friends dead,” she gave him the same smirk back. “Not before we rob them, though.” 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian and Alice hear that Nuka World is still in business and decide to visit.

The fire flickered across Ian’s and Alice’s faces as they sat next to it, Ian sharpening his knife and Alice cooking some radstag they had hunted earlier that day. They’d been out on the road for a month now, but it was for the best. Being away had helped Alice deal with the itching under her skin. 

“Is it almost done?” Ian hopefully asked.    
  
Alice sighed. “Probably another couple minutes.”   
  
Ian gave a sigh in response. He picked up the pip-boy, that was currently playing Diamond City radio, and started to flit through the channels. Alice glanced at him annoyedly but said nothing. It had been playing one of the songs she liked.    
  
Ian heard mostly static until a woman’s voice started to sing, “What if there was a place with all the super nuka cola?”   
  
Alice’s interest was instant. “What’s that?”   
  
They both continued to listen and realized what it was when Cappy’s voice started playing.    
  
“It’s the fucking Nuka World commercial!” Ian almost fell over laughing.    
  
“The world ended but Nuka World is still advertising. They were even more money-grabby than I thought,” Alice laughed with him.    
  
When they had gotten out their laughter, Ian turned to her, look mischievous, “You know what we should do?”

“What?” 

“We should go to Nuka World.”   
  
That shocked Alice into silence for a moment.  “Go to Nuka World?” She thought a moment. “Is that even possible anymore?”

“Well I’m not sure if the train is still up and running. Honestly it’s probably not, we’ll have to walk.”

Alice gave him a look that said what she thought about that idea.

“It’ll be a adventure! And imagine what it’ll be like when we get there. The entire park, all to ourselves. There has to be a way to turn the power back on, I mean their radio is working,” Ian got more and more enthusiastic as he talked.

Alice was about to just let out a flat “no”, but she looked at Ian’s face. It was so hopeful and childlike. Alice thought about their life now, they went more place to place, taking jobs as they went. Never staying for more than two days. There wasn’t much room for fun in there life, it was all just survival. If they actually made it to Nuka World, what would happen? Would a group of people be there? Or would it just be her and Ian, living out the rest of their lives there?

It was an idea that strangely appealed to her. No more whining farmers or annoying merchants, just her and the man she loved.

“Is it weird that I want to say yes?”

“Well, I didn’t think you’d actually agree,” Ian said, shocked. “I mean, we’re not on a job right now, and we’ve got enough caps to not have to worry about that.”   
  
“Then what are we waiting for?” Alice had a rare, mischievous look on her face that made Ian smile. 

 

  
  
When they came up on the Nuka World sign, Ian couldn’t hide his smile. He was about to walk straight through, before Alice yanked him down. It was then that he saw the group of people not too far from the sign talking to each other.    
  
“Gunners,” Alice whispered to him.    
  
“Should we fight them?” Ian asked.    
  
Alice looked hesitant. “Not if we don’t have to. They probably have an assaultron with them if they’re anything like the other gunners we’ve ran into.”   
  
“Maybe we can go around them?”   
  
Ian and Alice walked carefully around the perimeter, keeping close to the bush that surrounded the entrance. It was going well, and they were close to the subway when they almost shit their pants.    
  
“Did I hear something?” An electronic, female voice asked.    
  
Both Ian and Alice stilled, Alice shut off her pip-boy light. Ian opened his mouth to say something to Alice, but she quickly covered his mouth with her hand and shook her head. They heard the sounds of a robot moving closer to their position. The ominous red light showed even through the thick hedge and Ian and Alice crouched lower.    
  
“Standing down. Threat level negative.”   
  
Ian and Alice still didn’t move for a couple of minutes, even after they couldn’t hear the whirring of a robot anymore. When they were sure they were safe, they both let out a sigh.    
  
“I fucking hate assaultrons,” Alice muttered. 

“Don’t we all?” Ian shook his head. “I still think we should check out the train, just in case.”

“And risk being seen by the gunners?” Alice scowled at him. “No!”

“But, imagine the train still works, we’d have walked the whole way to Nuka World, it would take days, when we could’ve taken the train and it would take 20 minutes.”

Alice groaned at his stubbornness. “Fine, but we die to the assaultron, I’m coming back to haunt you.”

They continued walking along the perimeter until they got the transit station. There was a couple gunners facing away from the entrance.

“Do you think we can sneak by?” Ian asked biting his lip.

“I dunno… gunners are usually smarter than raiders,” Alice thought a moment before grinning. “I’ve got an idea…”

Once she explained to Ian, he protested, “Let me do it, I’m faster than you.”

Alice looked hesitant before reluctantly agreeing, he  _ was _ faster. She handed him the frag grenade, they only carried them in case they ran into deathclaws or other dangerous creatures, and he snuck back over to the car parks.

There was a large explosion and the two guards ran off to investigate. Ian ran back over to Alice. “Now let’s get out of here before the assaultron finds us.”

Ian and Alice used the fence to boost themselves over the hedge and dipped into the station. They quickly shut the door and Ian took a breather, he was shocked that it actually worked. He started when Alice pulled out her gun.

There was a man sitting down on the train platform, he was holding his side as if he was hurt. 

“Jesus. Shit. They’re going to die,” the man mumbled.

“Drop any weapons you have before I blow your fucking head off,” Alice approached him slowly, with her gun still up.

“You sure he’s a threat? He looks pathetic,” Ian muttered to Alice, looking at the man.

“He might be hurt, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a threat,” In fact, Alice was examining the man and she wasn’t sure if he actually was hurt. He was holding his side, but there wasn’t any blood.

“Please, you gotta help me. Raiders have my family,” the man all but begged them.

Ian and Alice just watched him skeptically.

“My family and I ran into some traders a while back… told us they knew a safe settlement… at Nuka-World. But when we got there,” the man paused with a sigh. “We found out they were raiders the whole time, just stringing us along.”

“So there  _ are _ people at Nuka-World,” Alice said disappointed.

“What gang are they a part of?” Ian asked, interested.

“Please, you gotta save my family!”

“Sorry but we don’t do charity. You can hire us to save your little family, but if you don’t have caps, I don’t care,” Ian scowled at the man.

The man scowled at them. Realizing that this man was going to be difficult unless he showed some teeth, Ian crouched down and slapped him. The man gave him a shocked look.

“I asked you a question, now answer it.” 

“Look, I can pay you!”

“Oh?” Ian said, moderately interested.

“Yes! Once you get back with my family I swear I can pay you!”

“You know,” Ian got uncomfortably close to the man, looking him dead in the eyes. “Somehow, I don’t believe that. I also don’t believe you’re actually injured, there isn’t even any blood!”

The man sighed, before sitting up and revealing that he was right. “Damn it. Look, you got me. I ain’t injured, okay? I just can’t do this anymore. The raiders back at Nuka-World put me up to this,” he looked away. “They lure people in and kill ‘em for fun, and I’m done doing their dirty work. Let ‘em find me and do what they want.”

“You tried to lure us into a death trap?” Alice snarled at him, thinking about Ian. “You’re dead!”

The man tried to put up his hands to try to stop her but she already had her gun up, pressing it to the top of his head, and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun shot made her ears ring for a moment before she realized Ian was asking if she was okay. She shook him off, still pissed.

Both Ian and Alice stilled as a voice came over the intercom. “Well, well. That wasn’t very nice, killing an innocent man? You’re one ruthless son of a bitch, aren’t you?”

Alice raised an eyebrow at Ian, but he just shrugged.

The voice continued. “Tell you what, old Harv’s got a password on him. Take it and use it to unlock the control terminal and power up the Nuka-Express.”

Alice pulled a piece of paper that had the password out of the man's pocket.

“The monorail will take you to Nuka-World. If caps and killing are your thing, I got the offer of a lifetime for you. But… only if you think you can handle it.”

“Well?” Alice looked at Ian. “I’ll leave it up to you, I don’t care either way.”

Ian thought for a moment. If they decided no, then they would have to go back outside, where the gunner guards were probably back to their spots. If they decided yes, they were going into a potential death trap,  _ but  _ if they survived said death trap, this man, this  _ raider _ , apparently had “an offer of a lifetime”. Both options sounded dangerous and stupid.

“Do you trust this raider?” Ian gestures to the speaker system.

Alice snorted. “Of course not.”

“Well it’s either him or the assaultron.”

Alice crossed her arms and sighed. “Let’s get this train back up and running.”

  
  


The train slowed to a stop at the station and Ian cautiously stepped off into what probably used to be a very pleasant area, but was now filled with dead bodies and heads on spikes.

Alice thought about what that mysterious man, Porter Gage, had been talking about on the loudspeaker. She didn't know what to think of him so far, he seemed to want to help them slightly, but only after they’d went through his little “death trap”, which did  _ not  _ sound promising. He also told them to put on a good show, what did  _ that  _ mean?Were they being watched?

Even if they were being watched, how would that be even possible? Alice was pretty sure the cameras stopped working the day the bombs fell.

Alice’s thoughts were cut short by a new voice coming over the loudspeaker, “Attention all my favorite undesirables out there, in case you haven’t noticed, we got ourselves some fresh meat to run the gauntlet!”

“What the hell is the gauntlet?” Alice asked the voice.

“I don’t think he’s going to respond, Gage didn’t respond,” Ian looked over to the doorway that had an arrow pointed down the stairs with the word “Gauntlet” above it. He walked up to it and peaked inside. The stairs led to a room, but before he could investigate Alice pulled him back.

“What are you doing?” Alice crossed her arms. “Do you really think going through there is a good idea?”

“Do we have any other choice? The only lead we have is what that Gage guy told us,” Ian shrugged. “Let’s see what happens.”

“I’m not going to just let you put yourself in danger like that!”

“We put ourselves in danger everyday! How is this different?” Ian flung his arms out, gesturing around them before letting his arms fall.

“This isn’t some easy clean up job, these raiders are organized and we don’t know how many of them there are,” Alice scowled at him. “I say we go back and take our chances with the gunners.”

Ian hesitated, his confidence wavering. “Are we sure they’re even going to just let us go?”

“Might as well try,” Alice shrugged.

She walked back in the train and to the front, Ian followed behind her. She pushed the lever that would bring them back to the commonwealth. Nothing happened.

“They shut down the fucking power!” Alice kicked the console to the train.

Ian stayed back, he hadn’t seen Alice this pissed in a while.

“Fine,” Alice stomped over to the stairs leading into the Gauntlet. “These raiders want us to play their game? We’ll play their stupid fucking game,” Alice walked into the room and pulled up her rifle, looking for someone to shoot. Ian walked in behind her, his pistol in his hand but not up. The door slammed behind him and the sound of turrets activating surrounded the room.

Ian pushed Alice behind a Nuka-cola vending machine that was knocked over. What had to be hundreds of bullets pinged off of the machine. Eventually, the sound of machine gunfire stopped and the turrets let out a beep.

“God damn, how many fucking turrets are there?” Alice leaned her back against the hunk of metal.

Ian tried to take a peek at them but bullets flew in his direction before he could finish counting. “I saw two normal turrets and at least two wall mounted turrets.”

“Let take me care of them,” Alice checked her clip for her rifle. “Do we have any extra .308 ammo?”

Ian took off his backpack while she did the same. He found the right box and handed it to her. “There’s about ten bullets in there.”

“Okay, that should be enough,” she put the clip back in the rifle. Alice took a deep breath before peeking to the left side of the vending machine and shooting a wall mounted turret that was behind a table. She quickly returned to cover as the other turrets noticed her and started shooting. She repeated this until all the turrets that they could see were destroyed. Every once in a while the man with the annoying voice spoke, but she ignored him, knowing that would only get her pissed off again.

Alice got up and stretched. Her legs were cramping slightly from sitting down so long. Ian got up slower, still cautious.

“There might be more turrets left, like behind one of those walls,” Ian pointed to the only, somewhat, standing walls, as Alice walked forward confidently. She decided he was right and walked forward slowly and peaking around the corner.

She ducked out of the way as bullets sprayed at her. She glanced around before noticing a hole in the wall the turret was behind. That the hole was high enough that she would be able to shoot at it, but it wouldn’t be able to shoot back. Alice took care of the turret quickly and Ian and Alice walked through the next doorway. The annoying man came over the speakers again, but Alice simply ignored him, rolling her eyes. They walked through cautiously, peaking around the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the gauntlet will be next chapter!


End file.
